Saturday, January 16, 2016

New Year, New Ventures


With the advent of a new year, I make resolutions that never seem to change from year to year: write more, exercise more, spend more time with my family, etc. When I reread over my New Year’s resolutions for 2015, I had vowed to write a new poem a week and work on revisions. I didn’t keep that resolution but I did average about one new poem a month. I also worked on revising older poems and sending them out to journals.

My hard work has panned out. I had a poem, “Flax Pond, Brewster” in the 20th anniversary issue of the Aurorean (a literary journal based in Maine). I also have a poem forthcoming in the Cape Cod Poetry Review. My big news is that my chapbook, Gale Warnings, has just been published by Finishing Line Press. I am very proud of my slim volume of poems. It can be ordered from www.finishinglinepress.com (price $12.49).

The other big news is that I have a book forthcoming from the History Press – Legends and Lore of Cape Cod (pub. date is May 23). This is not poetry but a nonfiction book looking at many of the fascinating people, places and history that make up Cape Cod. This project comes out of my work as the newsroom librarian at the Cape Cod Times and my blog Cape Rewind (a look back at Cape history).

I am still attending the Steeple Street poetry group in Mashpee. Our meeting this morning was hosted by poet Sheila Whitehouse on the theme of “beginnings.” We have two events lined up for April, National History Month. On April 16, we’ll be reading at the Cotuit Library. Next, on April 23, I will be hosting a Common Threads event with fellow poet, Rich Youmans. I am very excited about taking part in these events celebrating poetry.

What are you planning for 2016? I would love to hear from you (e-mail me at rosmithj@yahoo.com). As Brad Paisley wrote, “Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.”